


Raise Hell

by Mector



Category: Figure Skating RPF, virtuemoir
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Jealousy, Survival, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-05-13 03:41:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14741358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mector/pseuds/Mector
Summary: Something did happen during the last Stars on Ice show in Vancouver but not exactly what the fans hoped for... the world ended instead.orThe zombie AU nobody asked for and you didn't know you wanted.





	Raise Hell

**Hour: One**

 

She feels Scott’s arms tighten around her before she hears the screams. Instantly she is jolted, only managing to stay steady because of Scott’s hold, she looks into his eyes and finds shock mirroring her own. These weren’t the “get married” shouts and good-natured heckling they were used to receiving. The screams are blood-curdling and freeze them mid-spin. Scott recovers first yanking her upright, his eyes quickly scan her body before scanning the rink and finally moving to the audience. The stadium is dimly lit with a sole spotlight aimed on them but they can make out a major disturbance among the audience, people are moving and running on the aisles, and their screams are terrifying.

The El Tango de Roxanne is suddenly replaced with the roaring blare of the fire alarms. “Come on,” mutters Scott, grabbing her hand as they skate to the gate.

“Well looks like you managed to _actually_ set fire to the ice this time," snipes Patrick who’s standing at the entrance, his hands on his hips squinting up at the arena’s stands. “You think it’s a fire? Maybe somebody started a brawl or something?” he asks.

Tessa wonders what could have possibly happened that would make entire sections on opposite ends of the arena delve into chaos. Her heart stutters when she sees the sprinklers go off in the locker room.

“Who knows what the fuck is going on” Scott replies, letting go of her hand to grab their skate guards. Tessa could hear the anger in his voice, they had been interrupted mid-performance, and that had never happened to them before.

Elvis Stojko runs into the locker room: “Get the fuck out of here guys, get the fuck out _now_!"

His words shock her, she had never heard him swear before and the terror on his face is clear. “ Wha--” Scott starts but Elvis runs out of the room before he can get his words out. Patrick frowns at them both, confusion and fear etched upon his face.

“Guys I think it’s a fire, let’s go,” he sprints out after Elvis.

She looks at Scott and she knows they make the same conclusion at the same time, they won’t be able to get far in ice skates. They spring into action as she runs to her locker and grabs her adidas running shoes and her phone. She sees Scott throw their guards on the floor and pull off his skates in record speed, slipping quickly into his own runners. She sits down on the bench, her fingers shaking as she desperately tries to untie her too-tight skates as quickly as she can. Scott runs over and yanks her other skate off and she gives out a yelp of pain.

“Hurry up!” the tight edge of panic in his voice making it shrill. She barely has her shoes on before he’s dragging her towards the exit of the locker room, running ahead of her, his hand holding hers in a bruising grip.

They round the corner of the short hallway leading out when Scott suddenly stops causing her to crash into his back _hard_. For several dizzying seconds, she can’t see or hear anything, when she comes to, she realizes something is blocking their path. She recognizes the young security guard who had checked their badges before letting them into the dressing area by the flash of his red hair but the rest of him looks wholly distorted. Crazy diseased eyes peered up at them upon a pallid sunken face and his mouth--is open and drooling, pieces of bloody meat hanging from it.  He’s kneeling on the floor beside a heaving body in a puddle of blood, she gasps when she sees the ‘Team Canada’ sweater and Scott confirms her fears. “Patrick,” whispers Scott and she screams just as the man rises from his kneeling position.

They backtrack quickly, she’s on a full out sprint running back the only way they can, back to the locker room. The dreadful scene they just witnessed has thrown her and she is gasping for air, collapsing onto the bench.

“TESSA!” shouts Scott, trying to drag her towards the wide door that leads to the rink. She takes a deep breath trying to regain her focus but is distracted by the security guard who comes into the room. His face is even more horrid up close, his jaw is dislocated, a full 5 centimeters from where it should be, but the eyes--the eyes are bloodshot and demonic and don’t look human and leave her paralyzed with fear. And he’s coming right towards her-- _FAST._

She screams as Scott reaches for her abandoned ice skate underneath the bench, he stands quickly and slices _it’s_ neck, blood gushing, easily slicing and severing the flesh. The head, the body, and Tessa’s ice skate fall to the floor.

The room is filled the blare of the alarm and the sputter of the raining sprinklers but she can’t hear anything over the sound of her heavy breathing. She feels like she is hyperventilating but is not sure because she never has before, she tries to calm herself and _think._

“That was a fucking zombie,” Scott pants out, his eyes wide and his entire body shaking as he collapses on the bench beside her.

But she can’t think of zombies and what that means or the fact that Scott just _killed_ somebody by decapitating him with a skate blade because she’s thinking that one of her closest friends is meters away from them and he needs her help.

She gets up fast, almost collapsing again from dizziness but she’s a girl on a mission. She steps over the torso of the security guard---the zombie---callously and runs towards Patrick. She hears Scott curse and sprint after her as she rounds the corner and sees all of the blood.

Spatters of dark red blood are on the wall, the floor, and all over his clothes and is body is still, too still. They are too late. Scott runs ahead, kneels down beside him, trying to check for a pulse, and his head is shaking, telling her what she already knew. “Dead.”

“W-We have to get out of here.” 

It's full blown panic on his face, and it only increases her own fear.

He has her bloody ice skate in one hand and her hand in another, pulling her around the body and towards the door. Her heart is in pieces and she tries to hold in the sobs that are threatening to erupt. She think it’s the hardest thing she has ever done in her life, leaving Patrick there in a puddle of his own blood.

* * *

They are running on sheer adrenaline as they sprint through the labyrinth of hallways that make up the basement of the arena following the signs towards the exit to the parking garage where their tour bus is and hopefully… a sob escapes her at the thought of the rest of the cast. Scott squeezes her hand.

It is quieter in the halls, the cacophony of screams can’t be heard but the blare of the fire alarm is still ear-splitting, and her beautiful red dress is soaked through by the sprinklers. Drenched and shivering, she feels relief when they finally reach the door towards the parking garage. Her relief only lasts for seconds when she sees the tour bus is not where it’s supposed to be.

 _Fuck!_ shouts Scott his face red with exertion, and he runs a hand through his wet hair.

As if on sync they both remember their phones at the same time, she discovers dozens of missed calls from her mother and her latest text exclaiming: _CALL ME AS SOON AS YOU SEE THIS._ There's no signal. Scott grips her hand and walks them towards the stairs that lead to the upper floors of the parking garage, she gets a bar and immediately facetime calls her mother.

 

“Honey _honey_ are you okay? Kate Virtue's panicked face fills her screen.

“I’m fine mom, mom Patrick is dead, this guy was--”

“Honey go for higher ground, they are saying on the news…” her mother's voice cracks. She can see hear the whirr of helicopters in the background and a flurry of activity.

“ _Mom?!_ ”

“Who are you with?”

“I'm with Scott.”

“Ok. Ok good. Stick together.” Her mother is crying. She has never seen her mother cry before so seeing the strongest woman she knows like this breaks the dam of tears she was struggling to hold in. She feels like a little girl again craving the comfort her mother.

“Mom,” she sobs “what's happening?”

“Stay safe honey. I love you _so_ much.” her mother says, her tears falling freely down her face.  

“I love you too mom," she gets out between sobs.

“And please--”

 

The call cuts off. _No signal._  

“NO!” she screams panicking, she needs to talk to her sister, her father...

Scott looks over at her scream, his face also wet with tears. His phone is against his ear and he’s talking frantically with his mother.

 “I don't know, fucking zombies… mom you have to aim for the head. Yeah like the movies. Aim for the _fucking_ head! Yeah we’re together, she's fine...hello? Hello? HELLO? _You gotta be fucking kidding me_!” he yells, throwing his phone on the ground, and angrily stalking away.

She grabs his phone before following him to the edge of the parkade which gave them a clear view of the city. The bright Vancouver sun is low, she sees news and police helicopters, spirals of smoke from a fires in the distance, and the cacophony of people and sirens, cars swerving and honking. The street below them is oddly deserted, there's several abandoned cars with their door opens, she wonder what's became of their occupants. Her tears are making her vision blurry. “What’s happening?” she asks him, her voice shaking.

“The end of the world,” he says, laughing bitterly.

 _Happy fucking birthday to me,_ she thinks.

* * *

She is mentally cataloging the people in the world that she loves and their status. Mom-ok, Scott-ok, Dad, sister, brothers, everyone else- unaccounted for. Patrick-- she blocks the thought and pulls her knees to her chest rocking herself. _Wake up Tessa, wake up! Had she just not just been performing her favourite routine with her favourite person? WAKE UP._

She thinks about the missing tour bus and how that may mean they made it out of the arena alive and well--and then she thinks about the abandoned cars outside and whether they made it back to the hotel safe-- she thinks about the dressing room and how Elvis had come running-- where was he now? Had something bad happened to someone else in the cast? She thinks about Kaitlyn and another sob erupts. She focuses, trying to picture where her mother had been. It was 11pm in London-- but she had seemed to be in an office building, was she at work? Where was she? Was she ok? Was everyone ok? 

Scott slumps down beside her and puts his head in his hands, he’s shaking. She doesn't know if it's because he’s cold or scared. She’s picked a sunny spot to sit and dry herself and stop her shivering. “My mom says to get to higher ground,” she tells Scott. He hums, his head still in his hands.

A thought occurs to her. “Why is the parking lot full-- do you think that the audience, the people who were running…”

He looks up suddenly, and his eyes look haunted-- “We can't go back inside the arena Tess,” he says urgently. “It’s probably full of ten thousand flesh eaters," he shivers as he says this. “Or everyone’s dead…” and she knows he’s thinking of Patrick now.

He finally breaks down in sobs.

She lays his head on her lap, as he cries, trying to be strong for the both of them. Later, when he calms down, she curls up against him and sobs into his shirt, ruining it.

* * *

 

  **Day: 2; Hour: 3**

 

They've decided not to leave the parking garage, they are safe and that is all that matters. The arena’s fire alarms have stopped hours ago, she can still hear sirens in the distance...but the street below them is deserted and eerily quiet. She tries not to think of what that means. They are huddled against each for warmth, Scott’s eyes are closed but she doesn’t know if he’s asleep. She’s never been more tired in her life, but can’t sleep because of the fear coursing through her. She rests her head against his chest and finds comfort in the beat of his heartbeat.

  _Thump thump thump thump._

She wonders how different everything could have gone -- if Elvis hadn’t come to warn them, if Patrick hadn’t ran off ahead of them, if Scott hadn’t thought fast and wielded the skate as a weapon, if the security guard had got to him first...

Closing her eyes, she sits up and presses her back more firmly against the cool concrete wall of the parkade, she tries to concentrate solely on her breathing, focusing hard to avoid her mind wandering.

 

**Day: 2; Hour: 7**

 

 She sees them first, shaking him awake. He’s disoriented and slow in his waking, she sees the precise moment he realizes the nightmare of yesterday isn’t a dream and her heart breaks a little. They observe them, the stumbling lurching people on the street below, they are sporting blood-stained clothes with distorted faces and jaws but their feverish eyes and groping hands are what terrify her the most.

They stay low along the concrete perimeter of the parkade so they can’t be seen. She squeezes Scott’s arm hard and slumps back down, closing her eyes, and taking deep breaths, she has had a whole night to process her new reality but it’s still a shock.  

_Zombies, zombies, there are zombies on the street._

 

**Day: 2; Hour: 12**

 

It’s unbearably hot, they have shade but it’s not enough. Scott sees a water bottle in a car near them but she says they shouldn’t risk breaking into a car and setting off an alarm. He talks about venturing back into the arena, but she fervently reminds him of the danger. He wants to explore their area and get more of a sense of their bearings but she's too scared to move and stops him every time. He grows increasingly frustrated and angry and tells her that he going to go off by himself. She calls his bluff and tells him to go right ahead. If anything, this makes him angrier and they argue until she finally relents to them exploring the four floors of the parkade but nothing more.

The entire parkade is quiet and deserted, and she checks every car for an unlocked door with no luck while Scott obsessively checks his phone for a signal. She’s turned hers off yesterday to preserve the battery. He still has her bloody skate in his hand --- and it makes her think of the young red-haired security guard who had timidly smiled at her yesterday before he turned into that monster... she tries her hardest to block it all out, everything that happened yesterday because they have to figure out what to do next. She thinks about how they should have been on a flight to South Korea right now, but instead are stuck in a waking nightmare.

 

**Day: 2; Hour: 16**

 

Scott is restless, pacing back and forth and she’s afraid of what he’s planning. He has a saved google map of Vancouver on his phone and he’s using the last of his rapidly depleting phone battery to study it.

“We need to find them, maybe they're looking for us” he says. She feels guilty and sick. She imagines what she would be doing if Scott and her had been separated, she can’t imagine sitting idle if they were separated, just the thought of it scares her. 

“We need to get to the hotel Tess, we can’t just fucking sit here another day.”

She knows he’s right because as safe as they are, they are hungry and thirsty and they haven’t slept a wink.

“When?” she asks.

“Tonight. They seem very active during the day…”  

Going out at nightfall goes against any survival zombie knowledge she has, which is admittedly not much. But she trusts him and agrees.

He’s mapped out a route they can take to get to the hotel and makes her memorize it until her head hurts.

 

**Day: 2; Hour: 21**

 

They watch the sunset together and it’s beautiful. She pretends that she doesn’t notice him wiping his tears away. She can’t hear any city noise or sirens anymore and the silence is deafening.

 

**Day: 2; Hour: 23**

 

They take one last look at the city view they have from the upper floor of the parkade. The power had gone out sometime in the last day but as she and Scott had been camped out in a parkade, they obviously hadn’t noticed it. But they noticed it now, all of Vancouver’s glass condominium and office buildings were pitch dark and the only light came from the moon, it was an unsettling view. Scott was right about the street traffic, they haven’t seen a zombie walk by since the sun set.

They take the stairs and head to the lowest level of the parking garage. She sits on the stairs opposite the exit to the street and makes sure her shoes are tied tight. He does the same and she feels nervous.

“I just want you to know, that whatever happens--” she starts.

“We are not doing this Tess, you are _not_ saying goodbye to me like you’re going to--” he shakes his head, his jaw clenches and he’s staring at her.

She thinks she’s about to break down again at the anguished look he’s giving her, it makes her heart swell and pump hard against the wall of its confines until she feels nauseous.  

When they stand, he pulls her into a hug, his hands splayed among her bare back and her head rests in the crook of his neck. She closes her eyes and leans against him, breathing deeply to keep her emotions at bay as they swayed slowly. They are hugging like they are heading out to a competition, syncing their breaths and heartbeats.

 _"Together_ ," he whispers.

“ _Together_ ” she whispers back.

He leans back to look at her face. “If we lose each other,” he squeezes her, “make your way to the hotel or here, whichever is closer.”

“Ok.”

“You know the way right?”

She almost rolls her eyes. They spent hours going over the route.

“Yes,” she says, running her hands down his back, trying to calm his nerves.

“I--”

He waits, searching for something in her face, maybe the words he can’t say. His arms loosen and then drop away, his face shutting down. “We should get going.”

He picks up her skate, pushes open the door and they step quietly on to the street.

* * *

 

It feels like a performance, the hug serving its purpose and keeping them in sync. When he decides to deviate from the route, and go down a side street she’s already anticipated his move, and is right there beside him.  

It’s six long blocks back to their hotel and they make quick work of it, walking swiftly and quietly, careful to not make any noise. There have to navigate themselves around the abandoned cars...and corpses. She gasps into his shoulder when she sees the first one. They both try their hardest to avert her eyes and remain in their safe, close bubble.

They make it. She sees their hotel and her heart starts beating fast when she sees the tour bus parked erratically half a block from it. She feels a surge of adrenaline and she’s running towards the bus.

She’s not careful.

There’s a burst of pricking warmth at the center of her back, her bones are locked, muscles stilled and she topples. She feels the harsh impact of the concrete before everything goes black.

 

**Day: 5; Hour: 6**

 

When she wakes, it takes several long moments to realize that it must be a different day. She’s lying on her back on a bed, she thinks they are in the hotel as she recognizes the furnishings but it isn’t her room, she thinks it may be Scott’s.

She sees him in different clothes, sitting in an armchair next to the window, peering through the blinds. He sighs, but it is more a movement than a sound, and pushes his hair back from his face. He is beautiful in the faded blue-grey of early morning, and she is relieved that they made it to the hotel safe, despite her falling, but she doesn’t know how it happened. She feels confused and disoriented and she feels a dull throbbing pain all over.

“Scott--”

He looks up, his face is awash in relief.

“Tessa, oh thank god...,” his voice cracks.

“I’m sorry I ran like that--”

“No sweetie,” he chokes, “You-- I thought I almost lost you.” He comes and sits beside her on the bed and she sees his eyes are rimmed red, he blinks fast. “You were tasered by a _fucking_ idiot…”

“What?” croaks out Tessa, her voice hoarse from disuse.

He shakes his head. “Later, you have to eat,” he kisses her forehead before he gets up and starts moving about the room. She sees him open a can and he bends over to a corner and she can’t seem to sit up and see what’s he doing on the floor.

He notices her distress and comes over and helps her sit up, she locates the pain she’s feeling to her back. His fingers twist in the fabric of her shirt and he hugs her, breathing her in. “I’m so happy you’re awake T.”

She becomes aware of the new clothes she’s wearing, and tries not to think of the fact that he's changed her clothes and that her red skating dress had had built-in underwear so she had been completely naked underneath. He always seems to know what she’s thinking because he says: “your dress was ruined and I didn’t want--"

“Thanks for taking care of me,” she says kissing his cheek, because she wants him to know that she doesn’t mind, and she trusts him completely.

He brings her mushroom soup and carries her to the armchair. They are on a high floor and she can see all the deserted streets below.

“What happened?” she asks observing the spirals of smoke and the wreckage of buildings.

“Fires, lots of them" he tells her.

She has a lot of questions for him:

 

Did you find anyone at the hotel? _(no)_

Are there other people in the hotel? _(yes)_

Do any of the phones work? _(no)_

What are they saying on the radio?  _(static)_

Is there any power?  _(just running water)_

 

He is evasive in his answers and she tells him so.

“Later" he tells her, “when you’ve recovered properly.”

She nods, trying desperately to quell the dread and disappointment at what he does tell her.

Her heart squeezes painfully and tries to fight down the swell of panic that seizes her when she peers through the blinds with Scott and sees the hordes of zombies trickle on to the streets with the rising sun.

And then she’s clinging to him, the only familiar thing in this new unfamiliar world.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Is anyone into tossing couples they ship into apocalyptic zombie scenarios like I am? If you enjoyed this and want to motivate me to write, please leave a review!


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